Alfie Whiteman is the only soccer player with a favorite Vincent Gallo album

Soccer and music often make for pretty uncomfortable partners. The beautiful game is usually soundtracked by middle aged men chanting the “Seven Nation Army” riff while the players stick to Lil Baby in the changing rooms. While the Super Bowl gets Usher or Rihanna, major international soccer tournaments are soundtracked by Martin Garrix and Bono.

Outwardly cool players are treated with suspicion too. There is no equivalent of the NBA’s stylish Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to be found in the Premier League. A genuine debate raging in the game right now is whether it’s even OK to have interests off the field.

All of which made last month’s arrival of an NTS show by Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman all the more extraordinary. Here is a man blocking shots from Son Heung-min in the morning and playing out Cocteau Twins and Elliott Smith songs from a studio in Dalston in the evening. The signs he was a little different from his team mates have been there for a while.

See this recent TikTok in which he recommends cult U.K. political satire The Thick Of It while the rest of the squad are watching the latest Netflix show. The NTS show took things to a different level, though.

Titled Sweet Tooth, the show is, in fact, a somber mix of chilled out jams for the colder months. On the NTS website a melancholy still of Millhouse Van Houten looks out over the tracklist, filled with songs by Vincent Gallo, Floating Points, and David Axelrod. Used to assessing danger in front of him, Alfie ended the show with a couple of upbeat numbers to lift the downer vibes, opting for “Float On” by ‘70s R&B group The Floaters as his kiss goodbye.